A woman has been reunited with her baby after someone stole her minivan — with the child inside — from a Gatineau convenience store Thursday night, police say.

At about 7:45 p.m., police were called to the store at the corner of rue Saint-Rosaire and chemin de la Savane in the city's Pointe-Gatineau district.

The woman told police she pulled over and was having a conversation on her cellphone inside the minivan, according to police spokesperson Sgt. Jean-Paul Le May.

"During the conversation she went outside of her minivan and was a bit distracted by the conversation she was having on the phone, and someone sneaked inside the motor vehicle and stole the minivan," he said.

A Gatineau police canine unit examines the minivan found abandoned in the Pointe-Gatineau district on Thursday night. (Stephane Beaudoin/CBC)

'Sleeping in the child seat'

The driver headed down Boulevard de la Cité before disappearing from the woman's view.

The woman then called police, who were about to issue an Amber Alert when the vehicle was found abandoned on nearby rue Pointe-Gatineau near rue Onésime.